Switch Models; Benefits; Core-Edge Fabric; Ring Fabric With Satellite Switches - HP StorageWorks 4000/6000/8000 - Enterprise Virtual Arrays Reference Manual

Figure 6 Ring fabric with satellite switches
.

Switch models

All HP Fibre Channel switches are supported for use in a ring fabric topology. Ring fabric topologies
typically use the SN6000 Fibre Channel Switch; the 8/20q Fibre Channel Switch (or the HP Simple
SAN Connectivity Kit); or SAN, Fabric, or Edge switches, which support smaller incremental growth.
To meet higher port-count requirements, use Core or Director switches.

Benefits

The benefits of a ring fabric include:
Modular design and ease of scalability by adding a switch and other devices
Multiple paths for internal fabric resiliency
Support for a mix of local data access and occasional centralized data access

Core-edge fabric

HP recommends using a core-edge fabric wherever possible.
A core-edge fabric has one or more Fibre Channel switches (called core switches) that connect to
edge switches in the fabric
connectivity to the edge switches. The edge switches provide user ports for servers and storage. You
can also connect centralized storage (disk or tape) to the core switches if centralized access is required.
The core-edge fabric is optimal for:
Many-to-many connectivity environments that require high performance
Unknown or changing I/O traffic patterns
SAN-wide storage pooling
42 SAN fabric topologies
(Figure 7). The core switches provide high bandwidth and redundant
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